CGRA

Thank you for the info, very interesting concerning the "service culture"
I was in Beijing 10 years ago in a regular room at the Shangri La (IIRC) and found the service acceptable

In France we don't have service culture neither, however some hotels are really customer service centric / oriented / focussed (whatever) and I'll rate them at about the same level than HK.

Why Pen is not training / teaching their staff / manager how to please their guest is beyond me.
If you give peanuts you have monkeys
If you give decent money you should not have monkeys....

I agree that speaking local language always help.
The level of English is far, very far from fluent.
Both RC and PH has a much better level of English.

TOMFORD

I find the "service culture" in China to be better than anything available in the US. I have had more accommodating experiences in the Shanghai Holiday Inn West than at the FS Miami. Maybe it's because I don't speak Spanish...

submonte

J-Hotel Shanghai Tower grand opening scheduled for autumn 2018. Shanghai government and Jin Jiang Group appointed austrian Max Pleyer (Jumeirah Himalayas Shanghai) as GM.


Shanghai Tower in the evening four weeks ago, picture taken from square in front of Jin Mao Tower




The three tallest Shanghai Buildings: top - Shanghai Tower (future J-Hotel), right - Shanghai World Financial Center (Park Hyatt), left - Jin Mao Tower (Grand Hyatt)

chinmoylad

Service culture is something that's innate though. Staying in Shenzhen fairly frequently, I've had some excellent experiences of service, and equally poor ones. Same can be said of Hong Kong. On average, I'd have much better experiences in Bali.

Kagehitokiri

great photos!

some here report good recovery from corporate

pen ownership >
50% shanghai
20% paris / beverly hills

how did grand deluxe compare to floorplan here?
shanghai.peninsula.com/en/room-types/grand-deluxe-river-room

was it this suite floorplan?
shanghai.peninsula.com/en/room-types/executive-suite

those floorplans are all broken up, small suite bedroom

scented

Thank you submonte for the feedback, interesting!

worldiswide

Another note. If someone speaks English well in China, they can get a much better job than in the hospitality industry. There is not that same pride of history of your country and wanting to show visitors the best that you may find in other places. That said, it is improving in China from the first time we were there in 2000.

moondog

I've said the same thing in the past here, maybe in this very thread. Basically, hotels are often very good at recruiting in the provinces, and tend to pay ~4000 for new hires. People who are reasonably smart and proficient in English can command much more than that on the open market, and often land jobs with more/faster room for growth.

Kagehitokiri

even in hospitality they would be more poachable, plus international work

staff also rotate in general, for example aman (opening shanghai soon) in china may have peaked in 2012, including re speaking english

in terms of service and english changing at luxury hotels, sometimes constantly

it can be easier for bigger nonluxury chains to have english speaking because they are so big

submonte

The rotation and international work of staff in 5* full service hotels (not full luxury in the sense of this forum) of big chains such as Hilton leads to the result that there are excellent English speaking team members in those hotels as well (front desk, bar, breakfast, dining, executive lounge), at least in Shanghai and Beijing, which gave me a luxury service impression during my last stays in China in March, as they understood quickly what I needed and reacted quickly.

This (so their ability to communicate well in English - they were young as well) also - please correct me if you think I am wrong - equalizes somehow the differences between the categories Full Service - Premium - Luxury in China / Asia. Of course the hard product can be different or will be most time.

It was not the case in Wuhan (not as frequented by westeners), where I stayed at Sheraton Grand, which is absolutely accepted luxury by the wealthy locals (Shangri-La first of course). In the club-bar it took two nights till I gave up to ask (and explain) the barman (he was middle-aged and probably never has been anywhere else than in Wuhan or eventually countryside) what their (what a) "house drink" or "signature cocktail" is, even with help of the translation app on his tablet PC. Third night I asked him "what would you drink" and from then on I remained with "Long Island Ice Tea" and we both were happy

moondog

Shangrila > Wanda Reign ???

submonte

Yes, but I personally can not judge it (and will therefore not contradict if you have reasons for another opinion than the locals I met), as I know only Shangri-La and Sheraton Grand, both in Hankou.

I remember Wanda Reign was one of my choices, but our partners (and other suppliers) did not recommend it or refused it. A practical reason I first understood was the location, over Jangtse and at East Lake, which made the daily schedule (pick up early, long drive to factories somewhere in the countryside, or by high-speed train from Hankou Station west, come back late) not executable.

Other reasons I saw during the stay, the dining options (specifically in both hotels, Shangri-La and Sheraton Grand), seemed to be preferred, and eventually the service (for us, not for them, they are Chinese). But if you recommend it (thank you, I understand you so) I would try during my next visit, hopefully less tight schedule then.

The Shangri-La is more traditional Chinese, the Sheraton Grand brand new and more modern Chinese. I owe the community still my report and apologize for delay but will do it soon. See my first post here with some first pictures:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/starw...tel-china.html

Sorry for being off-topic too much.

lost_in_translation

Anyone have any update on the St Regis? It still seems to be listed online as opening in a couple of weeks but this is presumably not going to happen!

JohnRain

I had a tough time deciding between the PH and the Pen for my recent visit and opted for the former in the end. The views from the hotel are of course amazing and despite a few negatives I enjoyed my stay there but funnily enough my best service experience was at the Pen during Afternoon Tea.
What's quite shocking in general is the poor level of english of many staff members at the hotels I visited (especially compared to Hong Kong).

HKTraveler

Am back after just a short one night stay and it was fine. The hard product is great as you pointed out. Especially enjoyed being on Sir Elly's Terrace overlooking the Bund and seeing the night sky changes color. I also made the mistake of booking a Deluxe Bund view room and while the view is quite good, I don't like being squeezed in by the rooms on the two sides that protrudes out either. Will recommend booking at least a Grand Deluxe River view.

The location was excellent for a one night stay as it was close to the Bund and we got to walk around the area a little bit. It was also reasonably close to the subway. But if I were to come back for a longer stay, I probably will try the Tomorrow Square area since that seems to be a more happening area.

We didn't make use of that much of the service as it was a quick in and out. They helped me with a restaurant booking which they were prompt to help with over email. Not as proactive as some hotels which will have a printed map and address for you when you check in. Tried to book a car but the cost is just too exorbitant since we only needed it for a few short hops but the only way to do this will be to basically book a car for the full day. Getting a taxi can be challenging at times though since even the bell boys need to use their phone apps to call for taxis and we waited anywhere from 5 to 20 mins.